Mission Eastis a Danish international relief and development organisation, working in Eastern Europe and Asia. Our aim is to deliver relief aid, to create and support long-term development projects and to empower local aid organisations to carry on the work independently. Making no racial, religious or political distinction between those in need, we aim to assist the most vulnerable.

Screening of children in the 'Red Village'

On a hot summer day, a team of paediatricians and Mission East staff traveled to the remote village of Karmirgyugh (literally: ‘Red village’) in the mountainous Gegharkunik region, with many of the villages situated at 2,000 meters above sea level. The village has 6,000 inhabitants, and, as we soon shockingly realized, a large proportion of children that have been hidden in their homes and had never been given the correct diagnosis or follow up care needed to change their lives.
Following home visits by Mission East staff and a paediatrician of Mission East partner Arabkir Medical Center for basic screening , a number of children had been selected for the check up by a team of specialist paediatricians from our partner. The idea is that the specialists spend two days in each of the 12 communities in Gegharkunik included in the project, and on this special day in July we participated in a series of such screenings, first in the local clinic, later during a number of home visits. The purpose of the screening sessions is to chart the path for diagnosis, treatment and follow up of the children involved in this project, initially estimated to be a total of 600 children and youths in the two provinces of Tavush and Gegharkunik – but probably much higher.
The team of doctors were a neurologist, a psychiatrist, a rehabilitation specialist and a child development specialist, the four specialists each bring their special talents and experience when it comes to finding a diagnosis, deciding on possible follow up treatment, and the follow up care needed, be it surgical intervention, medical treatment, or long term rehabilitation in one of the Child Development and Rehabilitation Centres opened as part of the ‘A Healthy Start’ project of Mission East in each of the two provinces.

With the team of four doctors were three Mission East staff members, including Managing Director Kim Hartzner, himself a medical doctor, as well as a team of local family doctors and nurses.